"What is lost as well as gained? Who profits? Who is left behind and for what reasons? What is privileged in terms of literacy and learning and cultural capital? What political and cultural values and assumptions are embedded in hardware and software? " -- Selber (81). More on this later...
I love these questions posed by Selber. I think about this quite often as I ask my students to depend more upon technology in my delivery of calendars, schedules, and assignments. Half of my students can't use Twitter during the days because they don't have unlimited texting and the site is blocked as a matter of institutional policy.
Many of them cannot download or access documents from home as they have cut the internet connection due to family budgets. Even more of them have unreliable internet access at home due to viruses shutting down their machines.
My school is not aiding in balancing this inequity either as our media center hours have been cut to 10:30 - 2:14 each day -- all the while locking up over 100 PC's dedicated for student use -- due to state and district budget constraints.
So, the rich kids get further and further ahead in the technology game while the poorer kids fall even further behind and the public education 'solution' doesn't seem to be working so well.
You're so right! It is the Matthew effect in full force. I have an article I would love to share tonight: "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture" by Henry Jenkins et.al (remind me because I'm likely to forget). The article comes from the MacArthur Foundation (so I suppose we have to be wary of the foundational politics etc.) However, I found the article to be a good read and it really outlined what students are expected to know, what teachers need to do, and how we can really conceptualize what a participatory culture is. Additionally, this article did a really nice job presenting the problems of access (or lack thereof) in our society. I'd be happy to send you the article if you're interested (or have time).
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's so difficult to create a balance, and oftentimes it feels like the schools that we work for are almost more against us than with us. I remember at one point in my teaching career feeling like the students were just viewed as testable cattle being herded through four years of high school. Many students and teachers alike are loosing this technology and literacy battle. I've been reading about all these problems for so long, but I have yet to read about many solutions. I am at a complete loss, but I hope to see or be a part of some positive change in this during my lifetime. I really enjoyed chatting with you at the beginning of class tonight; it's nice to know that we're not alone in the ELA vs. CCE battle! LOL.
ReplyDeleteAgreed: teachers do need to ask these questions. Yet, to follow up last night's discussion, who is responsible for answering them? Or for taking action when the answers are unsatisfactory?
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